Essential links for any nutrition student

As a student dietitian, I get my fair share of nutrition questions. I’m still learning and there are many things I don’t know (or don’t feel confident) enough to answer straight away. After all, we’re meant to be the ones to provide evidence-based information.

Giving the wrong information can be dangerous and as students we shouldn’t be adding to the misinformation. Out of a desire for correct knowledge and curiosity (this was one of the reasons I started this blog), I’ll look for the answer to these questions. Over the past few years, I’ve come up with a list of my go-to-resources for information.
These are in no particular order.

Storehouse

Storehouse is an online directory of all the credible nutrition blogs in Australia. Go to the search bar, type in key words and you can be sure you’re getting reliable information from dietitians, nutritionists and student dietitians (like me). Alternatively, you can scroll through the directory to find new blogs to follow.

Eat For Health

This is the home for the dietary guidelines, you know, those recommendations that I go on about all the time. As a nutrition student, this is the foundation of everything we are taught (and for good reasons). With every question, I ask myself ‘does this line up with the dietary guidelines?’. Doing this helps identify if advice is a fad or not (e.g. the dietary guidelines raise a red flag for me when someone suggests cutting out an entire food group).

Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs)

Getting into the nitty gritty, all the nutrients are listed here (with the recommendations and the reasoning). This helps form an understanding of why different nutrients are needed and their role – giving a snapshot of the evidence. And if you want to know if you’re getting enough nutrients, this is the place to check what the usual intake should be.

Dietitian’s Association of Australia (DAA)

This is the home for dietitians. In my first few years of uni, this was a must – to see what dietitians are already recommending. I especially liked their Nutrition A-Z fact sheets, which has a short page per topic covering everything from foods, health conditions and how to eat healthier.

Google Scholar

Whether it’s google scholar or a database you access through your university, it’s good to search key words and skim through the research articles. It’s helpful to look at reviews also. I often use this in conjunction with other sites (to provide context) but it’s important to be looking at the original research.

Better Health Channel (Vic)

This is the perfect place for quick summary of any condition. Anything from gout, to cysts, to diabetes – it has it all. I get lots of questions about specific conditions (and now studying dietetics, you’re expected to have a working knowledge of a range of conditions) and this site is the best place to start.

Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN)

I said the DAA was the home for dietitians. This is the home for dietitians worldwide. Dietitians from around the world summarise the current evidence on different topics in context of practical nutrition advice and make it available here. The best way to access this resource is through university.

Other Relevant AssociationsThere are many other organisations that have great resources available and even have position statements available (which really helped was asked about coconut oil). Just make sure they’re reputable organisations.

A great list of resources! I’ve never seen “storehouse” but I’ll be sure to check it out. Fresh dietetics students should be given this link at the beginning of first semester, it has taken me way to long to work out the reliable and regularly referred to grey literature resources that are publicly available. Well done on seeing the gap Lana!